Do you Suffer Network Closure?

By Hanan Awaad

Hanan AwaadPresident and FounderCorporita Inc.

A study by Dr. Mark Lutter, a faculty member at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies argues that women suffer a “closure penalty” and face severe career disadvantages when collaborating in cohesive teams. The study also suggests that gender disadvantages are reduced for women who build social capital in open networks with higher degrees of diversity and information flow.

Many women in male-dominated professions have always discussed the notion of “Boy’s Club” and joked about learning golf to be able to be there when decisions are made. Although many noticeable transformations are happening in organizational cultures around the world allowing women to break the glass ceiling and the glass walls, women still report the challenges they face surviving and attaining success in close-netted male-dominated cultures.

The study shed light on how the characteristics of social capital with more open and diverse structure can support career women within constraining mechanisms that intensifies gender differences in career advancement.

To understand better how women can survive in such organizational cultures with gender disadvantages, Corporita Magazine has invited a group of successful career women in the many fields characterized as male-dominated (such as Construction, IT, Engineering, Oil and Gas, and Environmental Rehabilitation) to discuss and suggest some survival tips to help other women navigating their journey to success in similar work environments.

Women in Boy’s Club

The discussion focused on strategies to beat the network closure many women suffer in male-dominated work environments: